In the Kitchen

What's New at Paulding & Company

January 2008

Happy new year to all of you! 2007 was a year of tremendous growth for Paulding & Company, and of course the challenge is to continue to grow in 2008. Which means, for me, bringing in more great classes and opportunities for you to learn interesting things in my kitchen.

I’d like to start with a challenge for all my loyal readers--send a subscription to my newsletter to a friend or even a few, people who will appreciate getting it and might be interested in events or classes at the kitchen. I am working with a lot of new chefs who want to start teaching at the kitchen, but we always come up against the same limitations: I have a finite number of subscribers, and you simply can’t fill every class I want to offer, or you wouldn’t have time for anything else in your lives. Advertising classes is a hit-or-miss proposition elsewhere, I’ve tried things like Craig’s List and the Express back pages, with very little response. And, if your friends and colleagues don’t like the newsletter arriving monthly, they can unsubscribe safely and permanently--plus, as you know, this subscription comes Spam free (in every way).

I’m mid-way through arranging for classes with some well-known local chefs and well-respected educators. These will start in February. I’ve also had requests from some of you for singles night and couples night classes, and parent-teen cooking too; I hope to add these to the schedule soon. Since the newsletter only comes out one time each month, and some of these classes will be posted in between, it’s always wise to check the calendar every once in a while for new entries. I hope to post some quite soon.

In the meantime, here’s a reminder of what’s on the schedule now:

Classes

My Basic Cooking class starts next week, but it’s sold out, as usual. However we have our two basic skills classes coming up, Knife Sharpening with Eric Weiss Monday evening the 14th, and Knife Skills with Charlie Volllmar on Saturday, February 9th. There are plenty of slots left in both classes, and both will enrich your cooking experience for the rest of your life--having a sharp knife, and learning how to properly use it are kind of like learning touch typing--once you do it, you will never forget and be eternally grateful for how much easier it makes your life.

Rosetta Costantino has a full schedule of new Italian cooking classes on the calendar, appropriately beginning with a soups class on Friday the 18th. Her classes always fill up, so if you’re interested, don’t delay signing up.

Other News

A fond farewell to Cheryl Beere, who many of you know from her International Vegetarian Cooking classes in past years, and from her work with me at various team building and party events. Cheryl and family are moving to New Zealand next week. We’ll try to have her do a few guest appearances when she visits, which I hope she’ll do often!

A Few Thoughts About Restaurants

Restaurants, like people, seem to have life cycles. I’m not talking about the chains of course, but rather the places that are opened by people with a dream, either with great fanfare by this or that chef, or quietly and with great hope by someone with a passion and some cash, and hopefully some experience. The restaurant business is not easy, and half the new places fail within a year or two, losing lots of money for their owners and investors. Others settle in to long and delicious runs, enhancing our lives for many years. Sometimes, favorite places lose chefs or simply lose momentum after a time and become stale and boring. Keeping up the energy needed to make a restaurant fresh and wonderful, month after month, year after year, is one of the hardest jobs I know.

To start a restaurant, you need an enormous investment in infrastructure, staff and product, not to mention publicity to get us diners in the door. Without careful planning, a new place can have a rocky start with food or service, that turns off customers who don’t have the patience to come back (as a reviewer would) several times, over time, to reevaluate progress. Some of the places I’ve tried too soon and hated, have ended up with great reviews later--but having suffered interminable service delays, or paid for truly awful dishes, it’s hard to return. Here lies the conundrum: try a place quickly, you get less than you hope for--but wait to try it later, and it might not be there for lack of income in the beginning.

I know of no other business where people are as judgmental. Restaurants are quite simply transparent, as there is no masking bad product or unskilled technique. We, the dining public, simply need to be aware of all of this, and evaluate whether each place will get our compassion and encouragement, or is not worth it.

In the Market

The current rains will change what’s available, but as of last Saturday, the farmers market was chock-full of greens, citrus, squash and root crops, with beets and turnips playing starring roles. Cauliflower and broccoli are also great right now, and I saw golden and purple cauliflower at Grand Lake. One vendor still brought in strawberries, and there are plenty of apples, and still some persimmons. As always, I try to reward the farmers who make the arduous trek to market for their attendance, by coming and buying. Look at last year’s Winter Farmers Market Soup for a great warming dish that you can make from some of what you find.

Recipe of the Month

What feels right at this time of year is long-braised dishes, that warm us from the inside out. Pot roast is a classic that my family frequently requests. Lately I’ve been making it with a cut called boneless short ribs (found at Costco), which are great. Another great cut is a 7-bone chuck roast, named for the unique shape of one of the small bones in it. Don’t skimp if you make the dish, as great leftovers will be your reward (they freeze well, too!).

See the recipe >